Act 4 part 8:
So thank you all for waiting, the surgery took a lot out of me and I am still trying to get back to my old self; Hopefully the next update will be sooner but no promises. All I can promise is that there is only a few chapters to go and then this will be complete. I am going to work on a follow up story that puts Kal back into AOS and Avengers and of course the introduction of some of Kals old friends as they finally come to this new universe.
Disclaimer at beginning of story, but a reminder I do not own any of the characters in this unless they are an original creation.
In the palace, the guards have tracked down the prince's and the party; they are currently awaiting back up before approaching as this was the crown prince himself and his brothers to boot. No one was willing to fail in their duty but no one was crazy about their chances against one, let alone all three. They had heard about the final spar between Thor and Kal, they had all learned of the power the new prince had at his disposal.
"On my command" shouted the captain as he led more men to back up the guards.
Thor and Kal step forward to deal with them, but both are held by Sif "I will hold them off, take her"
"Sif..." said Kal, he knew what she was capable and did not doubt her, instead he kissed her and said "have fun."
As the guards draw their swords, Thor ushers Jane away alongside the others but as Loki goes to leave, he is stopped by Sif's sword at this throat.
"Betray Thor and I will kill you, but betray my love and I will kill you very slowly" said Sif.
"It's good to see you too, Sif" Loki said, even though no one could get him to admit it he did feel some fear at her words.
And as Loki runs, Sif turns to the guards and with a flick her sword expands as its second blade appears. With a war cry she launches herself at them, determined to give her love and friends the time they need to escape.
Thor and his friends make it across the palace plaza, to the crashed ship from which Malekith rode in on earlier; Volstagg stands waiting for them as he is the next line of defence.
"I will buy you as much time as I can" as he lifts his axe, nodding to the rest.
"Thank you my friend" said Thor, "Kal hold the skies" and with that Kal flew into the air, prepared to defend them as the rest boarded the craft and again as Loki went to enter, he felt the familiar touch of a blade coming to rest on his chest.
"If you even think of betraying them..."
"What you kill me? Evidently there will be a line" Loki quipped as he smirked at Volstagg.
"No, I will give you to Sif" said Volstagg as his eyes darkened and with that he let Loki board the ship.
Thor had started pushing buttons, watched on by an amused Loki and a confused Jane.
"I thought you said you knew how to fly this thing" said Loki as he wished the oaf to be more intelligent.
"I said how hard could it be?"
As the brothers continued to bicker, Volstagg was getting ready to hold off the quickly approaching guards; as the guards see the ship one shouts at them to stop it launching but with speed defying his size, Volstagg roars and swings into action.
Kal having had enough of this swings down and scoops the ship up shouting "I'm flying it now!"
Thor and the others on board are quickly thrown off their feet as Loki quips "He has less patience than you brother!"
"Shut up, Loki" shouts Thor as Kal pours on the speed, trying to steer the craft as he angles them through a narrow gap just avoiding the stature of Bor.
"Just how strong is he?" asked Jane as Thor helped her to her feet, "Too strong" muttered Loki.
As Kal swoops and sways the craft through the skies, the dizziness and vertigo brought on by it cause Jane to faint, "Oh dear, is she dead?" asks Loki as Thor pulls Jane to his side.
"Jane!" cries Thor, the strength of his voice shocking her back awake.
"I'm ok" says Jane, as she struggles to hold in the vomit that is slowly rising up her throat.
"Kal, head for the rendezvous point!" Shouts Thor as Asgardian flying skiffs appear on their tail.
"Hold on!" shouts Kal, as he throws the craft high into the air as he spins round and with quick fire blasts takes out the skiffs; with his hearing he picks up on Loki cursing his name and Jane letting out a rather loud scream as he flies further up to catch the craft.
"Kal, what in the name of Helhiem are you doing?" shouts Thor as even he is off balance after the acceleration of the craft.
"DO I TELL YOU HOW TO FLY!" shouts Kal as he steers the craft towards the point where they meet the water, parallel to a bridge that runs into the mountains Kal lowers the craft and slows the speed.
"You know, this is wonderful; this is a tremendous idea. Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe and escape in that! Am I the only intelligent one out of the four of us here? Why must I have such oafs for brothers! Truly Thor it's brilliant, it's truly..." but he can;t even finish his rant before Thor swiftly kicks him out the door.
Loki screams as he plummets, but is quickly followed by Thor who now has Jane in his arms; Kal quickly ditches the Dark Elf ship in the water before swooping up and catching Loki by his foot.
As Thor and Jane land in the 'acquired' Skiff piloted by Loki, they all let out a chuckle as Kal dumps Loki head first onto the deck.
"I see your time in the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Loki" in between laughing at the amusing sight, Fandral mocks.
"You lied to me, I'm impressed" sneers Loki as he stands.
"I'm glad you're impressed. Now, do as you promised and take us to your secret pathway"
Loki moves to the tiller of the ship and surprising to them all he grins in genuine glee; steering the craft and pouring on the speed Loki veers to the right as another skiff gives chase and begins to fire upon them. Loki doing his best to evade the shots fired upon them, sets his eyes on the goal and the craft rises to meet the line of the portal in the mountains.
"Fandral" cries Thor and looks to the swordsman and no more need to be said as Fandral cries out "For Asgard!" as he leaps from the craft to deal with the soldiers pursuing them.
"Nothing personal boys" Fandral says whilst dealing with them quickly, knocking them out and taking control of the skiff he veers away from his comrades.
Kal with his vision looks ahead at the mountain and sees a very small and narrow cave, "Loki!"
"If it were easy, then everyone would do it" Loki said with sarcasm dripping from his mouth with every word.
"Are you mad?" asked Thor, as he too could now see the cave entrance and was getting ready to sweep Jane up and fly them out.
"Possibly, brother, possibly"
Loki takes the skiff into the cave, skilfully and with great experience he guides the craft for the now glowing cave, the crystals glowing with the same light of the Bi-frost; around them the energy swells as Loki pushes the craft on.
Jane tries to watch on as she is fascinated, could this be a natural wormhole? How is stabilising itself, what focuses the energy? And as the energy passes over her, she succumbs and passes out, instantly Thor sweeps her to him and holds her close as they pass through.
Kal looks on in deep thought; could this help him get home? Could Loki be the key to seeing the rest of his family again? Do I want to leave though? And what of Sif, I can't leave her behind!
Loki recognising the swell of power; pushes the craft onwards as the lights shift and the ripple of energy passes over them as they shoot out of the tunnel on the now desolate planet of Svartalfhiem.
"Ta Da!" chuckles Loki as he waits for the applause from his audience.
On the Dark Elf Ark, Kurse approaches his Lord and Master.
"We must strike now!"
"No old friend, Asgard is meaningless" as Malekith breathed it in, the traces of the Aether calling to him "The Aether has found it's way home."
Upon the dead realm of the Dark Elves, Thor's skiff captained by Loki glides over the lifeless plains and broken cities long since abandoned.
Kal removes his cape and covers Jane who has since been laid out upon the floor of the skiff; Loki watches on and shakes his head.
"What I could do with the power that floes through those veins" said Loki as Thor thanked Kal.
"It would consume you" said Thor, referring to the Aether still trapped within his beloved.
"No, but then again hers it not the only power upon this vessel that could rule unchallenged" Loki replied as he pointed at Kal.
"My power is beyond you Loki, others have held it and it destroyed them; I do not seek to rule, I do not presume to be above others!" said Kal, clearly angered by Loki's implications.
"You see yourself as one of them, an ant? We are beyond mortals; we are gods you pathetic fool"
A backhanded slap faster than Loki could see, struck him across the face as Kal looked on him in anger.
"ENOUGH LOKI" cried Thor "Mortals are strong in ways you couldn't possibly imagine!" as he pointed to Jane
"She's holding up alright for now" Loki replied as he wiped the blood from his lip; that blow was harder than any he had been struck with before and that simple blow had told him enough as his magical senses felt the power contained within his new brother and we was both humbled and in slight fear of the power this man held.
"You need to say goodbye" said Loki as his mind was already working on ways to turn Kal's power onto his enemies.
"Not this day, she will live, she is too strong to give up now" said Thor, as he watched over his love; his eyes flickering to Kal wondering if he would strike again and if Loki would survive it.
"This day, the next, a hundred years, it's nothing, a heartbeat to you and I. You'll never be ready, she will be snatched from you as soon as you blink, the woman who love you prize above all others" Loki said this both to hurt and as honest truth, he was the wordsmith but sometimes truth is the most hurtful of all.
"And will that satisfy you, Loki? To see your brother suffer?" asked Kal, the anger in his voice checking Loki.
"Satisfaction is not in my nature"
"Surrender is not in mine" said Thor as he stood and moved to stand by Kal.
"The sons of Odin" Loki sneered as he looked upon the two oafs.
"No, not just Odin; you think you alone was loved by mother? You may have heard her tricks, but I had her trust!" said Thor as moved to Loki.
"Trust, was that her last expression? Where were you when she was struck, when she was hurt!" shouted Loki.
"What help were you in your cell?" shouted Kal
"I was there, where he and father put me!" shouted Loki as he shoved his hand at Thor, but Thor swiftly caught it and struck Loki with a heavy right cross to the jaw.
"You know damn well, you know damn well who put you there!" and Thor raises his fist again, prepared to strike Loki down once and for all.
The blow never lands as Thor drops his fist, shock and anger at what he was about to do filled him and he steps back.
"She wouldn't want us to fight, she would not want us to be the cause of each other's death" said Thor.
"Well she wouldn't be shocked" said Loki after some thought and his expression lightens.
"Can we trust you?" asks Kal, as the two brothers half laugh at each other.
"Trust my rage" said Loki as he stood and held his hand out to Thor, who grasp it in the warriors grip and nodded to Kal.
A/n another chapter over and another head ache to follow for me as I try and wrap this up
Act 4 part 9:
Disclaimer at beginning of story, but a reminder I do not own any of the characters in this unless they are an original creation.
Back on Earth, Darcy and Ian had been busy freeing Erik from the police, which involved Ian posing as Eric son; something he was not that comfortable with.
As they are leaving, Erik grabs his tablets off of Ian and knocks them back at which Ian shoots him a look.
"I had a 'god' in my brain. I don't recommend it!" said Erik in defence, as the sound of beeping filled the air.
"Dr. Selvig, sir your gear is beeping at me" said Ian as the tent poles covered in electronics were going off in his arms.
"It's happening, sooner than I calculated" said Erik, as he stared at a group of birds in the sky.
"Wait, what's happening?" said Darcy, as she stared at where Erik pointed.
"Birds? Birds are happening?"
"Look!" said Eric and as they watched the flock of birds disappeared in mid-flight, no trace of them in the air, no landing on any of the buildings.
"Where'd they go?" asked a stunned Darcy and as she said that the birds flew out from the ground at their feet and back into the air; she screams as the birds fly past and jumps back.
"What the hell was that? Why are you smiling?" said a still stunned Darcy as she looked at Eric grinning like the damn cat from Wonderland.
"There's nothing more reassuring than realising the world is crazier than you are" throwing his meds into the nearest bin and in a rather jolly voice he orders them to take him to Jane's lab.
On Svartalfhiem, the skiff flying ever onwards over the lands of the Dark Elves, Jane begins to stir and as her eyes open, the brothers notice that they have now changed to a startling brilliant blue. As Jane rises she moves to the bow of the skiff, her arm rises of its own accord as the Aether awakens within her, feeling it's master drawing near.
"Jane?" asks Thor, worry filling him as he watches on.
"Malekith" and with that one word all eyes turn to where she is pointing as the Great Ark of the Dark Elves pops into existence and Loki settles the skiff down on the edge of a low cliff.
As they leave the craft and watch from the edge of the cliff, the Ark opens and onto the dead plains the children of this world step foot for the first time in millennia.
"We are home, from here we will rise again!" cries out Malekith as his followers erupt in roars of joy and with that Malekith steps foot on his land once again; Kurse following as always in his wake.
Loki, his eyes narrowing as he looks upon the ones who hurt his mother, a hand descends upon his shoulder and squeezes it in reassurance.
"Are you ready for this brother's, Jane?" the plan they discussed already in place, as Kal nods and disappears before he could be seen by the Elves below and Jane nods to Thor.
"I am" said Loki, the plan had been a good one and he admired the cunning in Kal's idea.
"You know, this plan of yours is going to get us killed?" said Loki as they backed away to talk.
"Yes, possibly" says Thor as Loki holds his cuffed wrists up to Thor, at which Thor hesitates.
"You still don't trust me" asked Loki "I am shocked brother."
"Would you?" as Thor realised him from the cuffs.
"No I wouldn't" said Loki as he swiftly draws Thor's dagger, stabbing it into Thor as he flings him from the cliff and he lands roughly on the ground below.
"No!" screams Jane, this draws Malekiths attention and with a look of surprise he makes his way towards them.
Loki grabbing Jane and jumping down starts dragging her towards the oncoming army.
Thor rises from the ground as they pass him and reaches out to draw Mjolnir to him and end this, Loki with the swiftness he is known for flashes the dagger out and cuts Thors hand from his arm.
Thor clutching the stump of his arm screams in both pain and rage as Loki looks down at him, madness dancing in his eyes as he takes in the joy of what he has done.
"Do you really think I cared about Frigga, about anybody?" cried Loki "All I have ever wanted was you and Odin, dead at my feet!"
Turning to Malekith he grabs Jane and throws her at his feet. "Malekith! I am Loki of Jotunhiem and I bring you a gift! I ask only one thing in return, a good seat to watch Asgard burn."
Kurse turning to Malekith and in their own language tells him "He is a enemy of Asgard, he was a prisoner in their dungeons."
Malekith looks on at Loki as he assesses him and walks over to Thor "Watch on Asgardian as your time ends"
As he looks down at the kneeling Thor, he raises his hand and Jane levitates into the air screaming and fighting as she is drawn towards the waiting Malekith.
The Aether, being drawn from her was like no pain she had ever known; the liquid power being pulled from the cells of her body, the electricity setting her nerves on fire as she burns from within; it's final gift was a vision of the universe as it succumbs to darkness and as the final drop of the cursed power leaves her body she drops to the ground and looks up at the Aether floating and morphing in the air above her.
"Now!" cries Thor as he rises, the illusion of his hand dropping as he appears whole and uninjured, summoning Mjolnir to him as Kal appears in the skies and unleashing the devastation of both the lightning and Kal's heat vision they strike upon the unsuspecting Aether.
The Aether writhes under their attack but does not buckle, it does not brake and Malekith acts and swiftly draws the Aether to him; the burning heat of the Aether sears his mind as he runs for his ship, eager to depart and bring the death of the light upon the universe.
Kal and Thor swiftly stop their onslaught and give chase but Kurse steps in and throw's a black hole grenade at them; with speed unrivalled Kal catches the grenade and throws it back at the soldiers of Malekith and smiles as they are sucked into the black hole caused by the explosion.
Thor and Loki, attack Kurse and work in tandem as years of fighting together give them an edge in combat that few could match; but Kurse was one of them and was one of the strongest if not outright strongest they have ever faced as he knocks Loki to the ground.
Thor engages him solo as Kal is busy taking out the rest of the army by himself as he also tries to keep Jane safe at the same time, his speed and the training from Sif allow him to decimate the army of Malekith; his heat vision burning their weapons as he reins down blow upon blow, venting his rage at the hurt his mother had suffered.
Thor is being overpowered by Kurse, who even managed to deflect Mjolnir as he begins to take apart Thor's defence, stepping inside his guard and hammering a viscous upper cut to Thor's jaw and Thor falls to the ground.
Kal seeing this throws the last of the 'minions' off of him and flies into Kurse, swiftly pulling him from his brothers.
"Let's see if you can handle me" said Kal his voice edged with steel as he flung Kurse to the ground, drawing his axe at the same time.
Kurse's eyes narrowed as he drew his own blade, watching as the man before him settled into an aggressive stance. If anyone knows anything of axe combat then you know that to kill you have to come in range of the axe, and a skilled axe man will kill the attacker before they can bury their sword into them. A swordsman switches between offensive and defensive techniques, seeking to both kill and survive, the axe man on the other hand just needs strength and a lust for combat, the question on Kurse's mind is did this man have that lust.
Kurse places his sword across his chest, diagonally to protect him as he steps towards Kal and with a speed defying his size he swings out at Kal, hoping to strike first and bury his sword in his opponent's throat but he found his strike quickly deflected.
They swiftly trade blows as they block, and redirect each other's attacks; both Thor and Loki have since risen but stand back as they know this fight is now Kal's and he is all that is needed to end the creature that hurt their mother.
Kal brings his axe up and deflects the sword down, and as this leaves Kurse unguarded he quickly brings a hard left cross to Kurse's jaw, pushing him back and throwing him off balance; with the sword being held down now by Kal's foot, he reverses his axe and buries it in Kurse's chest.
The creature formally known as Algrim, screams as his life is sucked away by his blood falling to the floor; the blade cutting into his lungs and ripping through his heart; the eyes of his opponent bore into him as they watch the life fade from his eyes and with that the beautiful darkness descends upon him and he breathes his last as he falls to the floor of his world, his home..
Thor, Loki with Jane following approaches Kal as he pulls his axe from the wretch's chest and flicks the dark blood away.
"Kal, are you alright?" asked Loki, surprising them all as he sounded quite sincere.
"Since when do you care?" asked Jane, shock filling her that for once Loki did not speak with venom or sarcasm in his voice.
"He killed the beast that hurt my mother, which warrants an iota of respect"
"For once Loki, you speak truth. Kal deserves great respect and thanks for stopping that creature" Thor said with an emphasis on great.
"I am ok, I do not like to kill but sometimes we have no choice" said Kal, as he sheathed the great axe on his back pulling the cape back over it. He thought back to the lessons both Jor-el had tried to teach him and the ones that Sif had instilled into him as she made him practice again and again.
"Come, we must seek shelter until we can find a way to leave this plain" said Thor, as they could not rely on Hiemdall, for if all went to plan he is most likely in prison by now.
As they walked towards a great cave Jane suddenly spoke "He's going to unleash it, not just on Asgard or on a star. Malekith is going to destroy everything"
"How? Jane, how?" said Thor, as he took her hand in comfort and squeezed.
"I saw him on Earth, why would he go to Earth?"
"The convergence" said Loki, long forgotten lessons from his mother came back into the foreground of his mind "The planets celestial alignment will focus on Midgard, the Aether unleashed on that point would devastate the known realms. It would spread like a virus, attacking the very roots of Yggdrasil"
"God. None of this would have happen if I hadn't found the Aether" said Jane, guilt spreading through her.
"Then Malekith would've only possessed it that much sooner" said Kal
"I only found it because I was searching for Thor"
"Jane..."
"Now we're trapped here" said Jane, thinking over Kal's words.
At that moment a familiar ring tone starts playing, Jane and Thor look puzzled but Kal and Loki just shrug.
"Jane, it's coming from you" said Kal as he points to her pocket.
Jane looks at her phone as she pulls it out, "Well answer it" said Kal.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Jane. Its Richard, you know the gut you left at the restaurant, meal for one?"
"Richard, where are you?" asks Jane, surprised at the call she was receiving.
"I'm still in the office. It's been crazy here today" as she is listening to him Jane walks around the cave testing the signal strength.
"My god this is amazing!" said Jane, as Loki smiled at the comment.
"Is it? I wasn't sure if you wanted to talk again, after all you did leave me alone in the restaurant"
"How am I getting service here?" said Jane, still in shock at how good the phone service was.
"Is this a bad time, should I not have called?"
"No, just whatever you do don't hang up!" as she follows the signal watching as the bars change strength.
"Yeah I will, so do you want to try again? Maybe dinner, sometime soon?"
The three brothers watch on as Jane walks around the cave, Thor wondering what she is doing whilst the other two have realised she is searching for the source of the signal.
As she is only half listening, she says yes, this leaving Richard chatting away as she notices a soda can and believe it or not but the keys to the car that Darcy lost; snatching them up she tells the brothers to hurry up.
"I'm losing you, are you in a tunnel?" asked Richard, a bit confused to what's happening.
"Wait, where are we going?" said Thor as they followed Jane further into the cave "and why are there so many shoes?"
"Hello?" said Richard, but Jane not really thinking shut the phone off.
"We are going back to Earth" and with that Jane walked through the portal that had now appeared.
The brothers followed, none surprised at what happened as they had all experienced these kind of events before.
Now in London, they exit the building where Jane first found the Aether and get into the abandoned car that had been left behind, Loki quickly steals the front passenger seat as Kal and Thor squeeze themselves into the back both plotting revenge on the trickster for this rather embarrassing situation.
"So who's Richard?" asked Loki, trying to stir up his brother's emotions.
"Really?" asks Jane
A/n: So Loki survived and is now a part of the final battle. So now we are approaching the final leg of this act, only a few chapters to go. Also I would like to thank you all again for your reviews, messages and advice.